Not As Bad As They Say, But Not As Good As Its Trailer: Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad (2016)

Released: August 5th, 2016

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director: David Ayers (Training Day)

Writer(s): David Ayer

Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Jared Leto, Viola Davi

Plot:

Amanda Waller brings together the best and baddestworst anti-heroes and villains she can find to form an elite super squad of expendable people known as the Suicide Squad.

Opening Thoughts

So here is a film that people ripped apart, but I enjoyed it. The majority of my friends and family enjoyed it. I know professors of film and critics who enjoy it. So what the heck is the problem here? The truth is this, the movie has some serious flaws, but when it hits upon its strengths (and they exist I assure you), it is some kind of magic to watch. I found it to be a wild and yet eccentric comic book film pulled right from the pages of DC at some points. Yes, compared to Man of Steel (2013) and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), this movie has a very different feel. (Did you really want the movie as dark and serious at those two? Really?) As for what it reminds me of, the closest I’d go is Burton’s Batman Returns (1992) in style and humor.

So let me break down the movie. What I didn’t like and a lot of what I liked. (BIG OLD SPOILER WARNING RIGHT HERE.)

Dislikes:

I may be defending this movie, but there are aspects about it that simply can’t be defended. One thing that was done very poorly happens to be the editing. They clearly removed a lot of things from this movie (apparently it was mostly Jared Leto’s Joker.) Then they poorly patched it up. So there are times in this movie that a scene transition feels out of place and jarring to the audience. It throws you from the film and that is a terrible thing.

Then it does what seemingly every superhero movie did at the time. Let’s shoot a giant beam into the sky and cause massive amounts of destruction with it. It was uninspired and already felt repetitive (though it would be far from the last film to do it).

Then we have the villain known as Enchantress. The Enchantress may have looked exceptional, but her character was one dimensional. Then I guess they ran out of the budget for the CGI because her look in the second half is terrible. No amount of unnatural hip gyrations were going to fix that!

Her all CGI brother (he’s so uninteresting I’m not bothering looking up his name) was also looking subpar for 2016 standards. Plus, it’s never the best idea to go all CGI with any character. The technology still isn’t ready in 2019, and it definitely wasn’t ready in 2016.

Now I know a lot of people didn’t like Jared Leto’s Joker and I don’t blame them. Still, I didn’t hate him nearly as much as everyone else seems to. I thought that if they used him more we may have seen better. However, a lot was left on the cutting room floor with this film. I feel like the Joker could have been used similar to how he was in this film, but there was a better, more inclusive way.

While most of the acting is fine to good, I didn’t care for Rick Flagg played by Joel Kinnaman. Sometimes he fell flat with his delivery. He was serviceable, but definitely not the star in this film.

The soundtrack was at times presented very well, but on more than one occasion the music arrived in erratic fashion. It removes you from the movie and as I’ve said before, that is never good.

They could have explained Croc and Captain Boomerang more. I’ve heard some of this was actually in the full version of the film, but it was cut for a time among other things. Jai Courtney was actually enjoyable as Captain Boomerang!

Likes:

Yes, there are actually things I like about this movie. I’m going to start with Leto’s Joker. Hardly the strongest part of the movie, but it gets some of the strongest hate. I think it was a unique take on the villain and I didn’t hate it nearly as much as everyone else. I wanted to see more of the Joker, wanted to the character to be used better.

Some people said they disliked him because he was too sexually ambiguous at times. He is the demented clown king of crime. What does he care for what is standard sexual practices? He loves to make people uncomfortable, to watch them twist and turn. The only thing he cares about is what he wants to care about.

Harley Quinn is oversexualized and I can understand why people would be upset with that aspect. That is on the New 52 and Hollywood in general. I felt that Margot Robbie just did a phenomenal job with the character. I loved her the first time I saw the film. However, in the second viewing, I witnessed more of her sadness. There is this person locked beneath the madness the Joker brought out in her. Almost like that sane version of her escapes to the surface for breaths of air occasionally. There is this light within the darkness of one of the most tormented minds. She was this beautiful, tragic, unpredictable character and I loved every minute of it.

Deadshot played by Will Smith was also masterful. He was funny, he was charismatic. Will Smith is just a natural leader and I don’t blame them for focusing on him in this film. Smith can still steal a movie and he did a few times. He has the best lines in the whole film, plus his action scenes are amazing.

Viola Davis may play an altered more sexy version of Amanda Waller, but she has a killer performance. Absolutely. I was scared of Amanda Waller, I hope I never meet a person half as cruel as her. Yet, I could understand her in MOST of this movie. I see what she is so serious, so intense (except for one scene). Her idea is always that the end results justify the means. If the world is safer because she was a cold-hearted master of secrets and brutality, then that’s what must be done!

I’m not a big Jai Courtney fan, but I feel his work as Captain Boomerang may be his best work to date.

Slipknot was in this movie to simply show that Amanda Waller wasn’t kidding. She will kill them. Captain Boomerang totally sets him up just to find out the truth about these bombs in their head. Very fitting of his “Doesn’t work well with others” persona.

As for Diablo, his story arc is interesting albeit rushed. I feel for him. He has this troubled past. He didn’t want to be a weapon or a tool for someone else. He didn’t believe he had anything left to offer the world. Slowly, he realizes there was something more to fight for. That he has found acceptance with a group of people for what and who he is. They won’t shun him for it, but try to encourage his potential.

Croc was ferocious, and though he didn’t speak much. Almost everything he said was fairly straightforward. Could have been a bit more Cajun sounding, but I can roll with the punches on this one.

The strength of this movie is its cast of misfits. They have excellent chemistry together and it helps make up for the films numerous shortcomings.

The movie has a central theme and it is love. Each character here has a love or love of something, someone. This person or thing is a driving force in their lives. They crave a love they often know will never be theirs. It shows that these villains may not be so one-note after all. They have desires that are far from malevolent, things that all of us can relate to.

If only I got this job or lived in this location. If only I was there at this time, things would be different. That we are all the product of our lives. Shaped by the good and bad moments and traits we’ve acquired through nature or nurture. These are villains, they’ve done terrible things and I don’t think that is ever lost in the film. However, they are also people with dreams and hope for a better future. They have or had family, and the good times always seem just out of reach. Not every villain wants to watch the world burn. Maybe they went down the wrong path in life, but they aren’t completely malevolent and I appreciate this film sharing this aspect.

The film builds off of the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). When the world had to ask, what would we do if the next Superman figure isn’t a good guy?There is also some mention of other groups out there starting to form. Some good, some bad. There are times it gives us some easter eggs that would have revealed in the near future. Granted, the DCEU is undergoing a lot of major changes. We don’t know exactly what will wind up sticking.

Conclusion:

There is a large portion of viewers who will never agree with what I’m saying here. We all had high expectations when those trailers were released, but for many, it was a tremendous defeat. I understand their despair, but even with that said I feel Suicide Squad has a fair amount of positives that should not be ignored. The cast is good and has brilliant chemistry, the character designs were indeed top-notch (won an Oscar), it has some lovely humor, and the action is entertaining. Maybe it isn’t the surreal nightmare we all thought we would have, but I’d gladly watch it over a handful of other superhero films.